Disposable flavor insert for water dispenser

ABSTRACT

A method of adding flavor additive to water, by providing a refrigerated appliance with a cabinet and a door configured to allow selective access to the inside of the cabinet providing a housing with a recess having a water dispensing outlet accessible from the outside of the door and a dispensing area, providing a flavor insert device with an inlet portion, an outlet portion, and a porous enclosure comprising a porous exterior and a supply of solid flavor particles within the porous exterior. Then by placing a receiving receptacle below the outlet of the flavor insert device, actuating a water valve permitting an amount of water to fall from the water dispensing outlet and into the inlet portion of the flavor insert device, adding a flavoring to the water, permitting the amount of water to flow to the outlet portion, and permitting the amount of water to flow out of the outlet portion and into the receiving receptacle.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 12/195,494 filed Aug. 21, 2008,which is a Continuation application of U.S. Pat. No. 7,472,643 filedDec. 31, 2004, both of which are herein incorporated by reference intheir entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Water dispensers are known, whether as a stand alone appliance, such asdisclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,766,453 or in combination with anotherappliance, such as a refrigeration appliance, for example, as disclosedin U.S. Pat. No. 6,672,097. Typically such water dispensers include adispensing area which has a space to receive a receptacle, such as acup, which is to be filled with water from the dispenser.

There are also known arrangements for adding flavors to water as it isdispensed into a receptacle. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,996,066discloses a beverage flavoring cassette to be used in conjunction with acup that the cassette attaches to. The cassette includes a supply offlavoring particles held within a ring between two filters. The cup andcassette are then placed over a receptacle for the flavored liquid, andwater is dispensed into the open top of the cup. After use, the cassetteis discarded and the cup must be cleaned so it can be reused with afresh cassette which is packaged separately.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,292,527 discloses an apparatus for preparing anddispensing beverages from prefabricated cartridges in which thecartridge has a conical or frusto-conical shape with a sealed topopening and an openable apex end of the cone. Held within the cartridgeis a loose supply of a product which provides the flavoring to thewater. A perforated disc is also provided within the cartridge toprovide a pressure drop within the cartridge and to act as a filter forthe flavoring product. The sealed top of the cartridge is to be piercedby a water supply conduit when water is to introduced into thecartridge. The cartridge is held in place by lifting the body of thecartridge over a ring shaped support and then dropping the cartridgeinto the ring shaped support where it is held during the dispensingprocess.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a method for improved disposable flavorinsert and water dispenser to allow for ease in flavoring water with avariety of different flavors, and ease in cleanup after the flavoredwater has been dispensed.

In an embodiment, a flavor insert device is provided including a cupwhich may have a flange extending around at least a portion of aperiphery of the cup, a porous enclosure located in the cup, and asupply of solid flavor particles contained in the porous enclosure. Inan embodiment, water is flowed from a water dispenser, into an inlet ofthe cup, through a flavor insert device, and out the perforated bottomof the cup into a receiving receptacle.

In an embodiment, the cup may include a water inlet and a water outletand further may include a removable seal covering the water inlet andthe water outlet. In an embodiment, the water flow is generated from ahigh point at the inlet portion of the cup, though the solid flavorparticles in the porous enclosure to a low point at the outlet of thecup.

In an embodiment, the porous enclosure may be a porous bag and the cupmay include retaining walls arranged to receive and secure the porousbag therein. In an embodiment, the cup is slid in a substantiallyhorizontally manner onto a pair of receiving flanges rigidly fixedwithin the enclosure.

In an embodiment, the invention provides a method of adding flavoring towater by providing a water dispenser, including a housing for thedispenser, a dispensing area associated with the housing and including aspace for receiving a receptacle for receiving a charge of water fromthe dispenser, a water outlet through which water is dispensed into thedispensing area, and a fixed flange support positioned between the wateroutlet and the dispensing area arranged to receive a flavor insertdevice in a substantially horizontally sliding manner. The waterdispenser may be a stand alone appliance, or may be incorporated intoanother appliance, such as a refrigeration appliance.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 illustrates a refrigeration appliance incorporating a waterdispenser embodying the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates a stand alone water dispenser embodying theprinciples of the present invention.

FIG. 3 schematically illustrates a first embodiment of a flavor insertembodying the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a side sectional view of a container for the flavorinsert of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 illustrates a perspective view of a second embodiment of a flavorinsert embodying the principles of the present invention as held in awater dispenser.

FIG. 6 illustrates a perspective sectional view of the flavor insertshown in FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 illustrates a side sectional view of the flavor insert of FIG. 5.

FIG. 8 illustrates a sectional view of the flavor insert of FIG. 5 takengenerally along the line VIII-VIII in FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 illustrates a sectional view of the flavor insert of FIG. 5 takengenerally along the line IX-IX in FIG. 7.

FIG. 10 illustrates a plan view of the flavor insert of FIG. 5 with thefoil seal removed.

FIG. 11 illustrates a perspective view of a third embodiment of a flavorinsert embodying the principles of the present invention as held in awater dispenser.

FIG. 12 illustrates a top perspective view of the third embodiment of aflavor insert embodying the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 13 illustrates a top perspective view of a fourth embodiment of aflavor insert embodying the principles of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The present invention is directed to a water dispenser for dispensing aflavored water and to a flavor insert device for use with a waterdispenser.

In FIG. 1, there is illustrated a water dispenser 20A which is locatedin a door 22 of a refrigeration appliance 24. In FIG. 2, there isillustrated a water dispenser 20B in a stand alone appliance 26. In anyenvironment, whether as a stand alone appliance or as a part of anotherappliance, the water dispenser 20 (shown isolated in FIG. 3) includes ahousing 28 and a dispensing area 30 associated with the housing andincluding a space (which may be in the form of a recess) for receiving areceptacle 32, such as a drinking glass for receiving a charge of waterfrom the dispenser. A water outlet 34, such as a water dispenser tube isprovided, through which water is dispensed into the dispensing area 30.A fixed flange support 36 is positioned between the water outlet 34 andsaid dispensing area 30 arranged to receive a flavor insert device 40 ina substantially horizontally sliding manner. The fixed flange support 36may be in the form of a pair of spaced apart generally horizontalflanges spaced slightly below, and laterally to the sides of the wateroutlet 34. In this manner, the flavor insert device 40 can be positionedclose to the water outlet 34 to minimize the space requirements for theflavor insert device, since there is no need to accommodate a fullheight of the flavor insert device above the fixed flange support 36.The flavor insert device 40 can be installed onto the water dispenser 20easily from the front of the appliance.

In FIG. 3 there is schematically illustrated a first embodiment of theflavor insert device 40 which is in the form of a cup 42 having a flange44 extending around at least a portion of a periphery of the cup. Aporous enclosure 46 in the form of a porous bag is located in the cup42. A supply of solid flavor particles 48 is contained in the porous bag46. In this embodiment, a wall of the cup 42 is perforated as at 50. Thecup 42 may be formed from a variety of materials, and in a preferredembodiment, it is formed of a plastic, such as polyethylene.

The porous bag 46 may be constructed in a variety of manners and from avariety of materials. It may be rigid, semi-rigid, part rigid and partflexible or completely flexible. The bag 46 may be formed of a metal,plastic or fiber perforated material, such as a mesh material includingfilter paper and tea bag material, or a solid material with a pluralityof small openings therein. Preferably the openings are of a size smallerthan the individual particles held in the bag 46.

To use this embodiment, the user selects a flavor insert device 40 of adesired flavor. The flavor insert device 40 may be kept in a supplycontainer 52 (FIG. 4) for receiving a plurality of flavor inserts. Sucha supply container 52 may have a moisture impervious body 54 and aremovable lid 56 sealable to the body in a moisture impervious manner.Once a flavor insert device 40 is selected, it is inserted into thewater dispenser 20 by sliding the flange 44 of the cup 42 onto theflange support 36. If the flavor insert device 40 is formed without aflange, the device may be slid into the flange support 36, with theflange support engaging and supporting the body of the flavor insertdevice itself. Either way, this will position the flavor insert device40 directly below the water outlet 34 and above the receptacle 32. Whenwater is dispensed from the water outlet 34, it will enter the open topof the cup 42 and will flow into the porous bag 46 containing the solidflavor particles 48. These solid particles 48, which may be in the formof crystals or powder, will then dissolve into the water and will flowout of the porous bag 46 to flow through the perforated wall 50 of thecup 42 and into the receptacle 32 as flavored water.

After the flavored water is completely dispensed, the receptacle 32 isremoved and the flavor insert device 40 is disposed of. There is no messto clean up since any residual mixture of flavor particles and water iscontained within the flavor insert device 40. An endless variety offlavors are available to the user through the selection of anappropriate flavor insert device 40. If no additional flavor is desired,the flavor insert device 40 is not inserted into the dispenser 20, andthe water will flow directly from the water outlet 34 and into thereceptacle 32 without any hindrance since the flange support 36 ispositioned laterally away from the water outlet.

In FIGS. 5-10 a second embodiment of a flavor insert device 40 isillustrated. In this embodiment, the flavor insert device 40 includes acup 60 comprising a container having a hollow body. The cup 60 has aflange 62 extending around at least a portion of a periphery of the cup.A porous enclosure 64 in the form of a porous bag is located in the cup60. The bag 64 may be similar in construction to the bag 46 describedabove. A supply of solid flavor particles 66 is contained in the porousbag 64. In this embodiment, the cup 60 includes a water inlet 68 and awater outlet 70. A removable seal 72 is provided to cover the waterinlet 68 and the water outlet 70. The cup 60 may be formed from avariety of materials, and in a preferred embodiment, it is formed of aplastic, such as polyethylene.

In an embodiment as illustrated, the water inlet 68 and the water outlet70 are coextensive and a single removable seal 72 covers both the inletand outlet. When the water inlet 68 and the water outlet 70 are separateopenings, separate seals 72 will be required.

In the illustrated embodiment, the cup 60 has a generally cubicrectangular shape with upstanding side walls 74, a back wall 76, a frontwall 78 and a bottom wall 80. As illustrated in FIG. 7, the bottom wall80 may slope downwardly from the back wall 76 to the front wall 78. Theside walls 74, the back wall 76 and the bottom wall 80 are generallyplanar and smoothly connect with each other along liquid imperviousjoints. The front wall 78 is configured to have a spout 82 which definesthe water outlet 70. The spout 82 comprises a necked down opening fromthe hollow interior of the cup 60 in that the spout includes short sidewalls 84 and a short bottom wall 86 leading to the water outlet 70 atthe front side of the cup. The flange 62 extends around the entireperiphery of the water outlet 70 and the water inlet 68, which arecoextensive.

The seal 72 may be a foil seal, such as a lamination of aluminum foiland polyethylene, which can be applied to the flange 62 of the cup 60 bya well known induction or conduction heating process when the cup isformed of a plastic material. The polyethylene side is placed in contactwith the container. When heat is applied, the polyethylene melts andbonds to the polyethylene cup 60. The use of a seal 72 provides that theflavor insert device is a sealed capsule, and no further specialhandling or use of specially sealed containers is required. The seal 72can easily be removed from the flange 62 of the cup 60 by a manualgrasping of a tab 87 and removal of the seal.

On the interior of the cup 60, retaining walls 88, such as ribs, may bearranged to receive and secure the porous bag 64 within the cup. In thearrangement illustrated, the front wall 78 also provides a short step atthe front of the bottom wall 80 to prevent the porous bag 64 fromsliding out of the cup 60 towards the spout 82. The porous bag 64 mayalso be held in the cup 60 simply by a press fit with the sidewalls 74which then act as retaining walls, or by a heat stake between the porousbag material and one or more of the walls 74, 76, 78, 80 which then actas retaining walls, or other well known retention methods andconstructions.

To use this embodiment, the user selects a flavor insert device 40 of adesired flavor. Once a flavor insert device 40 is selected, theprotective seal 72 is removed. The flavor insert device 40 is theninserted into the water dispenser 20 by sliding the flange 62 of the cup60 or the cup itself, if not provided with a flange, onto the flangesupport 36 of the water dispenser 20. This will position the flavorinsert device 40 directly below the water outlet 34 and above thereceptacle 32. In the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 5-10, the positionof the flavor insert device 40 relative to the water dispenser 20 willbe determined by a continuation of the flange support 36 across the backof the flavor insert device receiving area to provide a stop againstfurther movement in the insertion direction. An alternative embodimentis illustrated in FIGS. 11 and 12 in which the flavor insert device 40is identical in all respects to the embodiment shown in FIGS. 5-10, withthe single exception that stop tabs 90 are formed on the flange 62,which stop tabs will engage with the flange support 36 when the flavorinsert device 40 is fully inserted into position. This arrangement canbe used to avoid the necessity of having the flange support or otherstop arrangement extend across the back of the flavor insert devicereceiving area. In all other respects, the flavor insert devices shownin FIGS. 5-10 and in FIGS. 11-12 are used in an identical manner.

When water is dispensed from the water outlet 34, it will enter thewater inlet 68 and will flow into the porous bag 64 containing the solidflavor particles 66. These solid particles 66, which may be in the formof crystals or powder, will then dissolve into the water and will flowout of the porous bag 64 to flow through the spout 82 of the cup 60 andinto the receptacle 32 as flavored water.

After the flavored water is completely dispensed, the receptacle 32 isremoved and the flavor insert device 40 is disposed of. There is no messto clean up since any residual mixture of flavor particles and water iscontained within the flavor insert device 40. An endless variety offlavors are available to the user through the selection of anappropriate flavor insert device 40. If no additional flavor is desired,the flavor insert device 40 is not inserted into the dispenser 20, andthe water will flow directly from the water outlet 34 and into thereceptacle 32 without any hindrance since the flange support 36 ispositioned laterally away from the water outlet.

In FIG. 13 a fourth embodiment of a flavor insert device 40 isillustrated. In this embodiment, the flavor insert device 40 is formednearly identical to the cup 60 described above, with the exception thata sump or well 92 is formed in the bottom wall 80 of the cup. The supplyof solid flavor particles are received in the well 92, and the well isthen covered with a porous material 94 to form a porous enclosure withinthe flavor insert device. The porous material (of any of the typesdescribed above) may be heat staked to the bottom wall 80 surroundingthe well 92. As described above with respect to FIGS. 6 and 7, aremovable seal 72 is provided to cover the water inlet 68 and the wateroutlet 70. The cup 60 may be formed from a variety of materials, and ina preferred embodiment, it is formed of a plastic, such as polyethylene.

As is apparent from the foregoing specification, the invention issusceptible of being embodied with various alterations and modificationswhich may differ particularly from those that have been described in thepreceding specification and description. It should be understood that wewish to embody within the scope of the patent warranted hereon all suchmodifications as reasonably and properly come within the scope of ourcontribution to the art.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of enabling a flavor additive to beadded to a drinking water dispenser, comprising: providing arefrigerated appliance with a cabinet and a door configured to allowselective access to the inside of the cabinet; providing a housing witha recess having a water dispensing outlet accessible from the outside ofthe door; providing a flavor insert device with an outer shell, aflange, and a porous enclosure comprising a porous exterior and a supplyof solid flavor particles within the porous exterior; placing the flavorinsert device on a support disposed below the water dispensing outletwithin the recess; placing a receiving receptacle below the flavorinsert device; actuating a water valve; permitting an amount of water tofall from the water dispensing outlet and into the outer shell of theflavor insert device; adding a flavoring to the amount of water; andpermitting the amount of water to flow out a perforated bottom portionof the outer shell and into the receiving receptacle.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising the step of receiving the flavor insertdevice in a fixed flange at the dispensing outlet in a substantiallyhorizontal sliding manner.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the addingstep is accomplished by dissolving the solid flavor particles in theamount of water.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein the adding step isaccomplished by dissolving the solid flavor particles in the amount ofwater.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step ofproviding a prepackaged set of a plurality of flavor insert devices. 6.The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of removing one ofthe flavor insert devices from the prepackaged set of flavor insertdevices.
 7. A method of adding flavor additive to water, comprising:providing a refrigerated appliance with a cabinet and a door configuredto allow selective access to the inside of the cabinet; providing ahousing with a recess having a water dispensing outlet accessible fromthe outside of the door and a dispensing area; providing a flavor insertdevice with an inlet portion, an outlet portion, and a porous enclosurecomprising a porous exterior and a supply of solid flavor particleswithin the porous exterior; placing a receiving receptacle below theoutlet of the flavor insert device; actuating a water valve; permittingan amount of water to fall from the water dispensing outlet and into theinlet portion of the flavor insert device; adding a flavoring to thewater; permitting the amount of water to flow to the outlet portion; andpermitting the amount of water to flow out of the outlet portion andinto the receiving receptacle.
 8. The method of claim 7, furthercomprising the step of receiving the flavor insert device in a fixedflange comprising a pair of supports rigidly fixed between thedispensing outlet and the dispensing area and spaced apart laterallyrelative to the flow of the amount of water.
 9. The method of claim 7,wherein the adding step is accomplished by dissolving the solid flavorparticles in the amount of water.
 10. The method of claim 8, wherein theadding step is accomplished by dissolving the solid flavor particles inthe amount of water.
 11. The method of claim 7, further comprising thestep of removing a seal from the top of the flavor insert device. 12.The method of claim 7, wherein the flow of water from the inlet portionto the outlet portion is accomplished by sloping a bottom wall of theflavor insert device from a high point at the inlet portion to a lowpoint at the outlet portion.
 13. The method of claim 7 furthercomprising the step of preventing the flavor insert device from slidingout of the outlet portion by configuring a step in the outlet portion.14. A method of adding flavor to water from a refrigerator with anexternal water dispenser, comprising: providing a refrigerated appliancewith a cabinet and a door configured to allow selective access to theinside of the cabinet; providing a housing with a recess having a waterdispensing outlet accessible from the outside of the door and adispensing area; providing a flavor insert device with an inlet portion,an outlet portion, and a porous enclosure comprising a porous exteriorand a supply of solid flavor particles within the porous exterior;placing a receiving receptacle below the outlet of the flavor insertdevice; actuating a water valve; permitting a flow of water from: awater dispensing outlet to the inlet portion; from the inlet portion tothe flavor inert device; from the flavor inlet device to the outletportion; and from the outlet portion to the receiving receptacle; andadding a flavoring to the water;
 15. The method of claim 14, furthercomprising the step of receiving the flavor insert device in a fixedflange comprising a pair of supports rigidly fixed between thedispensing outlet and the dispensing area and spaced apart laterallyrelative to the flow of the amount of water.
 16. The method of claim 14,wherein the adding step is accomplished by dissolving the solid flavorparticles in the amount of water.
 17. The method of claim 15, whereinthe adding step is accomplished by dissolving the solid flavor particlesin the amount of water.
 18. The method of claim 14, further comprisingthe step of removing a seal from the top of the flavor insert device.19. The method of claim 14, wherein the flow of water from the inletportion to the outlet portion is accomplished by sloping a bottom wallof the flavor insert device from a high point at the inlet portion to alow point at the outlet portion.
 20. The method of claim 14 furthercomprising the step of preventing the flavor insert device from slidingout of the outlet portion by configuring a step in the outlet portion.